Hammerli Forge H1 Pistol Review: A 1911-Esque Plinker?

Hammerli's Forge H1 is a 1911-style .22 that's dependable, accurate and so much fun to shoot.

January 07, 2025 By J. Scott Rupp

Depending on your shooting background and your age, the Hammerli brand conjures up visions of the heyday of Olympic-style free pistol competition, athletes stock still at the firing line, a single arm extended toward the target. In the shooter’s hand was a futuristic-looking .22 with a wooden grip that encircled the firing hand. Chances are it was a Hammerli 100 or, later, a 150—for years, top choices among elite shooters.

Hammerli, which traces its roots to a Swiss barrel-making company established in 1863, is still alive and well in international pistol competition, but now that it is in the hands of the PW Group—a company that owns such firms as Walther and Umarex USA—the Hammerli brand is spreading its wings.

Today, Hammerli Arms is producing two .22 rifles, the TAC R1 and Force B1, along with the Forge H1 1911-style .22 that’s the subject of this review. I wondered right off what prompted a historic competition gunmaker to jump into selling what, for lack of a better term, is a “regular” gun.

“There are two different sides of Hammerli, first being the competition side,” said Cody Osborn, the company’s director of communications. “Hammerli Arms is a new side that is meant to bring new, innovative products to the American consumer market for hunting, defense and plinking. This is a new venture that has just started in recent years, even though the Hammerli brand is older than Walther.”

Survival Plinker

pistol barrel — The barrel is threaded, and while Hammerli Arms provides a wrench that fits the flats, you’ll have to hunt up a 1/2x28 adapter to install a suppressor or compensator. (Photo courtesy of J. Scott Rupp)

The Forge H1 is available with either a five- or 4.25-inch barrel; my sample is the former. Weight with an empty mag is right at 32 ounces, and overall length is 9.6 inches.

Hammerli is marketing this primarily as a “survival” gun, and as such it features a black Cerakote finish to fight corrosion under harsh conditions. The aluminum slide has a ball end cut, and it sports cocking serrations on the front and rear. They’re angled and square-bottomed, and they’re nice and sharp.

In addition, immediately behind the front cuts you’ll find a series of fine, vertical serrations. So even though the slide is already easy to operate, thanks to its light weight and a light recoil spring, there’s plenty of purchase and almost no chance your hands are going to slip if wet or while wearing gloves.

“Hammerli Forge H1 22” is engraved on the left side of the slide, with the Hammerli logo on the right. Sights are white three-dot, and both are dovetailed into the slide. Both the front and rear sights are adjustable for windage by loosening their set screws, and Hammerli provides the proper Allen wrenches; the front and rear take different sizes.

Fit and Finish

back of pistol and hammer cocked — The low-profile three-dot sights provide a roomy sight picture that’s fast to acquire and easy to hit with. They’re set in a proprietary dovetail, but Dawson Precision offers sights that will fit if you want to change them. (Photo courtesy of J. Scott Rupp)

On my sample, the bases of the sights don’t sit flush against the bottoms of their dovetails; you can see just a sliver of light underneath. On a centerfire pistol I might worry about this, but I don’t think it’s a concern with a .22.

The front blade is 0.12 inch wide, and the notch on the low-profile rear sight is 0.165. This results in a fairly roomy sight picture that may not be conducive to Olympic-medal accuracy, but it’s fast to acquire and easy to shoot. If these sights don’t do it for you, Osborn said that while the dovetail cuts are proprietary, Dawson Precision makes Colt 1911 .22 sights that fit the Hammerli.

The black Cerakoted frame is steel and, in keeping with the survival theme, it sports a four-slot accessory rail for mounting a light or light/laser. The right side is engraved “Hammerli Arms Ft. Smith, AR” and “Made in Germany by Umarex.”

The barrel is threaded, and Hammerli furnishes a wrench that fits the thread-cap flats. However, the company doesn’t supply the adapter necessary to add a suppressor or compensator. Osborn said the thread pattern is 1/2x28, and if you find an adapter that fits the Walther P22 or Colt 1911 .22, it will fit the Forge H1.

The frame extends slightly below the magazine well opening, and the frontstrap and flat mainspring housing are smooth. It accepts standard 1911 stocks, and the gun comes with black rubber grip panels that are slightly pebbled and feature the Hammerli logo on both sides. The left side is slightly dished out behind the magazine release for better access to the release.

That release—along with the extended single-side thumb safety, grip safety with memory bump, slide stop and three-hole trigger—are typical 1911. The trigger face is smooth, and the pull on this sample was two pounds, 12 ounces on average, with just a bit of creep. And yes, it’s a rimfire so you shouldn’t dry-fire the gun with an empty chamber. I used a snap cap to measure the trigger, and you’d be wise to do the same if you want to get in any dry-fire training.

In case you get the urge to tinker, Osborn said most of the fire-control parts are standard 1911 fare, and they will interchange with aftermarket parts with some fitting. Frankly, I was happy with the gun as it is.

While it’s modeled on the 1911, the Forge H1 is blowback operated, and its disassembly/reassembly process is a little different. I know everyone has their preferences, but my 1911 process begins with pulling the entire upper from the frame and then disassembling the recoil spring, guide rod and bushing. With the Hammerli you’ll want to remove the bushing and recoil spring and its plug first. Push in on the plug, swing the bushing clockwise to remove the spring assembly, then rotate clockwise to remove the bushing.

Inspiration and Deviation From

pistol disassembled — As a blowback-operated pistol, the Forge H1 has a fixed barrel, and disassembly is similar but not identical to the process you’d use on a 1911. (Photo courtesy of J. Scott Rupp)

Unlike a standard 1911, there’s no half-moon cut in the slide to align the slide stop. Move the slide to the rear until the lever matches up with the slide-stop notch. The lever won’t just push out; you’ll need a non-marring tool of some kind to drive out the lever from the right side. Then retract the slide, lift it off the frame at the rear and remove it forward.

Reassemble in reverse order. To reinstall the slide lock lever, you’ll need to pull the guide rod slightly forward to permit the lever’s peg to fit through the frame. Leave the slide retracted and work the recoil spring over the guide rod, keeping it under control as you allow the slide to go forward, and then reinstall the barrel bushing.

The gun ships with two 12-round metal magazines with plastic bumpers. They, like the gun, are made in Germany, and they have loading assists on one side. The assists don’t project very much and don’t offer a ton of purchase, and they’re fine until you get close to full capacity.

While I didn’t have much trouble getting those last rounds in, Hammerli also supplies a plastic loader that slides over the body of the mag for fast, easy spring compression.

Accuracy and Reliability

accuracy results — (Accuracy results provided by the author)

Bench testing showed the gun to be quite accurate, and results are shown in the accompanying chart. At 25 yards, the faster ammo was one to two inches low while the standard-velocity ammo was two to three inches low. However, at the 10-yard line where I shot the gun offhand in drills, everything was dead on.

In addition to my range testing, we also shot the Hammerli quite a bit on “Handguns” TV, and the gun ran without a hitch with a variety of ammunition. Initially we encountered an issue where the thumb safety would occasionally stick in the Safe position, hanging up on the plunger, but with continued use the problem disappeared.

Other than that, the only “malfunction” was a couple times the slide went forward on its own when slapping in a fresh mag. I can live with that.

It’s worth noting that during filming co-host Rich Nance had a couple of instances where the gun failed to cycle, but it turned out he was stalling the slide with his support-hand thumb. I’m telling you this not to bust on Rich (well, maybe a little) or the gun but to remind shooters that this isn’t a 9mm or a .45. It doesn’t take much shooter interference to cause problems on a gun with such a light recoil spring and slide.

It Grows On You

front serrations and muzzle — The slide has excellent serrations on the front and rear, and the front is treated to an extra, finer set of serrations. The slide is Cerakoted to resist corrosion. (Photo courtesy of J. Scott Rupp)

The more I shot the Forge H1, the more I liked it. While I think some of the Hammerli’s survivalist marketing hype is over the top, I do agree that a .22 is an essential “head for the hills” firearm. This one is accurate enough to bag small game for the pot, and it’s also one of the most well-balanced .22s you’ll ever shoot.

I ran a number of Failure Drills—two shots to the chest and one to the head—on USPSA targets at 10 yards with Federal Punch, and I was really impressed by how well the gun handled and how accurate you can be at speed with it.

The generous sight picture was just perfect for this type of shooting, and the trigger is fantastic—great pull, great reset. When I run the Failure Drill I typically throw a couple outside the A-zone head box. Not with the Hammerli. All my shots were dead on.

All that survivalist/defensive stuff aside, it is such a blast to shoot. I kept coming up with excuses to keep going—different ammo, different drills, longer distances—because I just didn’t want to stop shooting it. Yeah, I like to shoot anyway, but I really enjoyed the Forge H1.

A Different Side of Hammerli

As I mentioned at the outset, Hammerli has its roots in the competition world, and those guns always seemed to me to have a very European flavor. So why would a company with this background turn to a very American design for its first consumer-market pistol? “It is the most iconic pistol in the world, and we believe we make the absolute best rimfire version of this style,” Osborn said.

While there are few .22s modeled on the 1911, the overall semiauto rimfire field is pretty crowded. Hammerli believes it can separate itself through a marketing effort that, like I said, focuses heavily on the survival/apocalyptic angle.

Osborn explained that this focus was a way to present the “fun side” of Hammerli Arms and separate the company from the everyday plinking approach taken by its competitors. He also said that the Forge H1 is just the beginning, and we can expect to see not only the Forge H1 lineup expanded but also even more “really innovative product family offerings.”

I’m certainly looking forward to those. But in the meantime, the company has done a fantastic job with the Forge H1. It’s well built, accurate, dependable and a joy to shoot. Whether you’re actually looking for a survival handgun or simply a fun plinker—or perhaps a gun to take to today’s action rimfire competitions—you’d be well served by the Hammerli Forge H1. It’s a solid gun at a great price.